Regional Media Complain of Censorship

By Peter Richards, IPS, 29 December 1999

PORT OF SPAIN, Dec. 29 (IPS) - From Jamaica in the north to the tiny
eastern state of Grenada, journalists from across the Caribbean are
complaining of a deteriorating relationship with their respective
governments.

In Grenada, two journalists recently found themselves in court to
answer charges of criminal and "seditious" libel and and there have
been rumblings in St. Lucia that the Kenny Anthony administration is
planning to crack down on independent reporting by the media there.

But perhaps the most disturbing development has been the decision by
the Jamaican government to introduce legislative measures to imprison
and fine journalists for publishing information under consideration by
a proposed anti-corruption commission.

Under the proposed legislation, journalists could be sent to jail for
up to 10 years and fined up to 25,000 dollars for reporting information
leaked from the commission.

George John, a member of the International Executive Committee of the
Commonwealth Journalists Association, says it is critical that national
media organisations in the region "act together to see that all
attempts by the governments to control the media must fail".

Jamaican journalists are up in arms over the proposed restrictive
legislation, and the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT)
condemned it as "yet another attempt by Caribbean governments to curb
freedom of the press, despite their often-repeated statements to the
contrary at various regional and international forums".

Recalling the campaign by the Trinidad and Tobago government since it
assumed office in 1995 to bring the media under its control, MATT said
the measure contained in the Corruption Prevention Bill ran contrary to
the Jamaican government's public promise to improve relations between
it and the media.

It recalled the announcement by the ruling People's National Party
(PNP) Senator, Maxine Henry-Wilson, who spoke at a 1998 conference
in Jamaica under the theme, "The Caribbean Media: Freedom and
Understanding," that the government planned to enact Freedom of
Information laws.

Henry-Wilson had told the regional press that it was not the intention
of the government to supress information, keep government activities
from the public or "shroud them in deep dark secrecy". The proposed
Freedom of Information Act, she said at the time, would empower both
the media and the people with the right to know.

MATT said that the measures contained in the Corruption Prevention Bill
runs contrary to the views expressed by Henry-Wilson.

According to the Trinidad Express newspaper, while the solidarity among
regional organisations has helped to beat back various challenges to
press freedom in the Caribbean, "it is becoming clear that governments
across the region are also banding together in the attempt to bring the
media to heel".

"In this general liberalising climate, there seems to be a clear
intention by Caricom (Caribbean Community) governments to restrict the
limits of what is possible for the news media to cover. But a free,
responsible press is infinitely more desirable than having a government
decide the boundaries of freedom of information," it said.

The newspaper added that the Jamaican government's move "can only give
comfort across the region to all those opposed to freedom of
information".

George John, who is also a member of the Advisory Commission of the
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, said the present composition of
the Basdeo Panday coalition administration may have contributed to its
failure so far to bring the media under its control in Trinidad and
Tobago.

"But I feel it in my bones that if the government is re-elected next
year with a comfortable majority, it will try again," he told the
annual general meeting of the Grenada Media Workers Association earlier
this month.

"You have been through that experience and you know the trauma it can
lead to, for once press freedom goes, everything falls down," John
added.

Meanwhile, in St. Lucia, Prime Minister Kenny Anthony has denied that
his St. Lucia Labour Party administration is moving toward curbing
press freedom in the country.

"This government will not interfere directly or indirectly in the
operations of the press, this government respects the right of the
press to do its work and does not believe in censorship," he said,
adding that governments reserved the right to correct
misrepresentations, lies and distortions, deliberate or otherwise.

"We will exercise that right whenever we deem it necessary," he said.

"We will speak out against the abuses committed by some practitioners,
from that task we will not shrink, neither will we be deterred by those
crying wolf about intimidation."

But Guy Ellis, the editor of the weekly Mirror Newspaper and a highly
respected St. Lucian journalist, says the constant reminders from the
Prime Minister and his press secretary that the government "insists" on
its right of response is nothing but an attempt to intimidate and
demoralise independent reporters.

"The fact of the matter is that we in St. Lucia are well on the way to
turning the corner in relations between the present government and the
media from what these relations were in May 1997, and it promises to
get a lot worse," he said.

"While press relations under the last government were most times bad,
we never had the sustained criticism of the media and practitioners
that we are having now, all within the short space of 30 months," Ellis
added.

"It's almost as if there is a secret agenda for the media lurking
around the corner despite the official assurances."

Nearly every press outlet has been touched in one way or another by the
policy of "aggressive engagement" and "behind-the-scenes admonishment,"
he said.

And Anthony's denials have not allayed the concerns of other
journalists and political commentators on the island, particularly
since the government has announced new plans for the state-owned Radio
St. Lucia.

"We have seen enough of modern journalism on certain radio stations
operating under licence approved by this government to understand their
quality. We have seen enough," Anthony told Parliament.

But the former head of the St. Lucia Media Workers Association, (SLMWA)
David Vitalis, has warned the government against moving in that
direction.

"The success of mass media lies in their credibility, a virtue that is
difficult to earn through political control. Once there is a lingering
perception of political influence, either directly or indirectly, the
public's scepticism which that breeds often affects the viability of
any medium," Vitalis said.

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